FATHOM #Zero - The Boring Boar of Hyperborea

Einin grabs the Strawman and yanks him out of his seat. It's not until she's well into the air that she and Spinette realize the Strawman was wearing a seatbelt.

Perhaps the scarecrow is trying to say something about that to Einin as she lifts off. But all Einin hears is a mumble before she notices the Strawman lost a lot of weight.

Pieces of scattered straw are swept about by the wind as they fall. Spinette sees the legs of the scarecrow are too limp to operate the boar's pedals, and the head on the shoulders gripped in Einin's talons is now a near-empty bag with nothing to say.

A brain falls out of the bag. (Now, it's empty.) It splatters on the ground.

((Enemy dead!

You can RP a bit. There's more, but I did promise Suny 48 hours to decide on healing.))

 

The Amazon Princess says, "I have no comment on anyone's smell, but what doesn't stink is your abilities as they matter in battle. I'm impressed, though not at all surprised, by Xenalite's prowess. Addy, your trainees did surprise me with the pinning and the extraction—such clever girls! How shall we celebrate?"

Addy replies, "I'm thinking the lot of us eat out."

The princess nods. "GUARDS! We will need your guardhouse at once! Vacate the—"

"No," Addy interrupts. "I mean a meal, since I promised me girls a feast, but what meat there is on the boar's rotten. Ain't there a tavern round here? There's always a tavern!"

Baldy shrugs. But whatever the Princess had in mind, it sounds like her guardhouse already has some activity happening inside. The guards turn their helmeted heads toward the clattering coming from beyond the door.

The wizard also turns toward the door of his own lab. It sounds like one of his machines is starting up, and from the look on the old man's face, this is unexpected.



((Out of character, I'm sure you are expecting something other than a picnic. As I said, giving Suny until Wednesday to cast healing, if she wants to—otherwise, I'd have simply triggered the next phase of the fight, which is the response to the scarecrow's command: help.

Please keep characters in the area. If you want to investigate buildings, you can move toward them as you speak, but before you can walk the vague distance from your current position to either door, the scarecrow's allies will show themselves.

Er... spoiler alert^.))

 

The Princess looks at her men.

"You heard my Sister. I've no orders for you at this time. Do as you must to survive."

The knights distance themselves from the guardhouse.

The wizard does not follow suit. "My life's work is in there," he says. He reaches for the door to his lab.

 

BALDHART: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (Not OK from being conked by falling bricks! / Wrestling a flying pig.)
EININ: ♥♥♥♥♥
SPINETTE: ♥♥♥♥♥
SUNY: ♥♥♥
WIZARD: DEAD
EVERYONE ELSE: OK

WAR HOG from the HOUSE of STICKS: ?
WAR HOG from the HOUSE of BRICKS: ? (Toughness / Flying)



Addy smiles at Suny. "Don't worry about it. If the world had more people who ain't crazy 'bout killing, it'd need less people like me who're good at it."

The knight is certainly grateful when Suny's healing spell patches his wound. He assures the nymph, "Whatever comes through that door, it's gotta get through us to get to you."

The pikeman concurrs. "If you want to cast any ice or lightning spells, cast from behind our shields."

The two knights form a shield wall to protect Suny... not that they can really block a giant charging war hog, but it's a nice gesture.

The wizard opens the door to his lab, fireball in hand. But the doorway rises before he can step in—

"Aw, fu—"

—and a burst of flames vaporizes the wizard as it propels the entire lab into the air!

Bricks crumble to the ground—

—an a few break against the Amazon Princess' body!

All the bricks fall. Dust settles, revealing the War Hog that was inside the lab—even bigger than the first, and it has fire shooting out of all four legs! The only way to hit it is to shoot or use magic—or—the Amazon Princess demonstrates a plausible third option:

Baldhart hurls her blade at the flying beast! It sticks in!

The Amazon then takes a flying leap, grabs hold of her own hilt with her left hand, and with her right, she draws her spare blade and thrusts it into flying pig's front-right leg. Sparks fly! The stream of fire now sputters weakly from the penetrated leg.



As for the pig in the house of sticks, it charges toward our heroines on the ground. It has several buzzing circular sawblades—at least a dozen—sticking halfway out of it's rotund, papery hide.

Addy manages to shoot two arrows into it, but that doesn't stop the beast from charging Xenalite and Spinette!

((Xenalite, Spinette, roll FIGHT DEF — need a 2 to not get sawed!

Everyone, whether you get hit or not, you can ATTACK! Only a SHOOT ATK or MAGIC ATK can hit the flying pig. Xenalite and Spinette can do what Baldhart did. Xenalite would use her web.))

 

BALDHART: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (Swinging on a spider web)
EININ: ♥♥♥♥♥ (-2 HP from blades against her exoskeleton)
SPINETTE: ♥♥♥
SUNY: ♥♥♥
WIZARD: DEAD
XENALITE: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (Not OK from the indignity of a wardrobe malfunction)
EVERYONE ELSE: OK

WAR HOGS from the HOUSE of STICKS: DEAD
WAR HOG from the HOUSE of BRICKS: ♥ x Twenties (Toughness / Flying)


The saw-bladed hog rushes Spinette and Xenalite, striking both!

Einin makes the beast pay dearly! She drops stones onto the creature—and the second one hits a sawblade, which sinks into the papery hide and starts to tear the war hog apart from the inside!

Spinette tumbles from the cockpit, but rather than attack her assailant, she considers her unique ability to take out a flying creature. She shoots two web streams. They don't hinder the flying beast at all. Did her attack serve any purpose?

...

Xenalite adjusts her armor, and is ready to take on the hog from the house of sticks—only what she sees is a crumpled mess being torn to ribbons by its own sawblades! In all the confusion, the Amazon has little time to react to a pair of sawblades that leap right at her!—but she sidesteps and swings her axe, striking the bundle of sticks that holds the circular blades in place. Splinters fly! The two blades whizz away like serving trays flung by an irate waitress. One blade ends up taking down a tree before it's permanently lodged into the ground. No one knows where the hell the other went—

—or cares! Another blades-on-a-stick tries to run the Amazon through! Xenalite CHOPS! A rock is halved by a runaway blade. 'Lite's pretty sure the sticks screamed.

The third time, she gets a better look at the enemy: it's a red-eyed stick man mounted on a wooden machine with saw blades for wheels.

CHOP!

The fourth time, she notices the leaf beard. Red ivy leaves for a beard. How'd she miss that?

CHOP! (The detail—she didn't miss the enemy.)

The fifth time, she sees the hog-skull that binds the steering stick in place. She shatters the skull with her axe.

The stickman yells, "Whoah-oh-oh-SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—"

Then he unceremoniously topples off of his hog. He might be fine, except that the vehicle tilts to one side, circles around, and runs him over. He screams until his log body is sawed in two, along with his brain. The un-stickmanned-saw-bike keeps going over the hill. A distant clatter implies it doesn't get far.

Hanako sighs sympathetically as Wynry casts three solitary sparks that don't do anything. They don't even glow. "Oh, I hate when that happen," the fairy says. But Hanako offers no spells of her own, since she needs to carry the Fairy Ring.

...

Princess Baldhart takes a stream of Spinette's webbing. She swings on it—

—and strikes one of the flying pig's legs!

...

Addy tries to take out the bikers before they can run down Suny and the men! She shoots one—

—then as the other two draw near, she whips out her spear and whacks one rider in the head!

((Fight Atk - Combo Finish!))
—he careens into the other!

((Enemy dead!

Xenalite can use Spinette's web to reach the flying enemy! No need to roll a climb check—just ATTACK! Everyone else can fly and/or shoot or use magic!))